The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 5E learning cycle, conceptual change texts and traditional instruction on 8th grade students& / #8217 / understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Besides, the effect of instruction on students& / #8217 / attitudes toward science as a school subject was investigated.
One hundred and one, 8th grade students from three classes of one elementary school in Ankara attended in this study. This study was carried out during the fall semester of 2003-2004 academic year. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Students in the first experimental group (n=33) received 5E learning cycle based instruction, the second experimental group (n=34) received conceptual change text based instruction and students in the
control group (n=34) received traditional instruction. Two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test, Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plants Concept Test, was used to determine students& / #8217 / understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. The test was administered to the sample of the study as pre- and post-test. Students& / #8217 / attitudes toward science and their reasoning abilities were measured by Attitude Scale Toward Science and Test of Logical Thinking respectively.
The hypotheses of the study were tested by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results indicated that there were significant differences among the treatment groups with respect to their understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Both 5E learning cycle based instruction and conceptual change text based instruction were found effective to eliminate 8th grade students& / #8217 / misconceptions about photosynthesis and respiration in plants. The results also showed that there were no significant differences among the treatment groups with respect to attitudes toward science as a school subject.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12605925/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 January 2005 |
| Creators | Balci, Sibel |
| Contributors | Cakiroglu, Jale |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for METU campus |
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